Mechanical golf game



May 9, 1933.

J. W. HUGHES MECHANI CAL GOLF GAME Filed Deo. 4, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet May 9, 1933- I J. w; HUGHES 1,908,359

MECHANICAL GOLF GAME Filed Deo. 4, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 May 9, 1933. J. w. HUGHES 1,908,359

MECHANICAL GOLF GAME Y Filed Dec. 4, 1929 s sheetsheet s Patented May 9, 1933- i JAMES WILLIAM HUGHEsyoF ATLANTIC cIfrY,.1\TEvs/'v JERSEY IECHANioAL Goti? GAME application filed December 4,1929. 'serial No. 411,'5e.- i

This invention 'relates-to improvements in gaine apparatus, and more particularly to'a novel 'ga-ine for one or moreplayers, and requiringfor its' playing, both skill and chance.

Another object is to provide 'an apparatus for playing vor practicing golf, either indoors or Within a relatively small area. 'A1 further object is to provide an indoor practice game for improving ones ability in golf, vWhile at the same time, providingentertainmen't by chance of obtaining different combinations of playing cards tomake up hands in popular card games".

Another Objectis tofurnish a game apparatus of this character in which golf balls struck by a player may lodge 'i in 'various pockets or stations which accord with the cards' of a deck' of playing cards; these stations being combined with an electrically operated board or indicator, so thata ycard on the indicator' vcorresponding with the Station in which `the ballv is lodged, will `be'illurninated.4 p i i Another object is to provide aV game apparatus including a board provided at onel end with 'aj compartment provided with Windows; in thejrearofwhich are chutes for directing balls driven through the `Windovvson to the board, Vso that the ball rnaylodgeV in onegof the lstations and cause a' playing card lonth'e indicator corresponding to` that` station, to be illuminated.. I i Y Y y i With the foregoing objects outlined and with' Aotherobjects in view which will appear asl the description proceeds, the invention consist-s in the novelv features hereinafter describedin detail, illustrated the acconti` panying drawings, and lniore particularly pointed' out in the appended claims.

Re'ferringto the raivixlgs,V i i Y i i Fig. .11 'is' a longitudinal vertical.. sectional view ofthe playing boardpo'rtion of the apparatus Y j p ,A f

Fig. 2 is a top planvievv of thes'arnewith certain parte ernittedvte` 'feei-1itate*illustraT tion. i Figc is an elevation of the saigne viewed from the playing' end of the board, and with the' guards' in position. i j i. i Fig. 4' is an enlarged top plan view ofthe `dar`r11mii tleforee "of ythe struck' ball,

Which the same isl divided into 'our segments,

pli-m each of which is furnishedv vvith an electric Fig'. 6 is a verticalsectional vievv o''a4 detail, and illustrating" the means by ,which the d'urup platesofthe pockets are retained in position or perniittedto dump. f j

Fig. 7' is "an elevation'of the scoreboard or 1indicatori i f Fig. 8 is `an enlarged vertical sectional viewof a detail of the score board( i In the drawings, l() indicatesthe playing board which is `adapted to be arra-ngedion a floor surface, and as this board preferably is 'at least four feet wide and sixteen feet long, I prefer to forin'thesame in 'sectionslL l2 and 13, that inay be connected together by any suitable inea-ns? This :sectional construction facilitates transportation, handling or storage.v Thefup'pler surface lofthe board is inclined downwardlyfrom its rear "end to its front end,'a1'1d` yat the rear end, this surface should be about eight inches abovethe floor line, While atthe front or playersend, it is preferably aboutV four inches above vthe Hoor line.V l such board, I combine Ea 1a'l`iir`1et 14 which isarranged atjthe rear end of the board, and'has 'a front pad iedv Wallf 1,5?, in which three Windows 16 are positioned. The cabinet' maybe V feet in length, and one foot Wide,'an'd i t extends lengthvvs will be 'about thirty-"two inches in length,- and eight inches high, and of rectangular shape, as shownin Fig.y 3. v f 'i The paddedjfront Wallof the cabinet pre-V vents damaging of the same by' ajdr'iven golf ball, and als-@prevents such fa ball'lfrorn rebounding, but any ball whichpasse'sinto one or the other of theV Windows, strikes against partions 17 which form` chutes that' direct the ballsv into a ,eompartmentls in the Lrear eiilargedV baseportien er the cabinet.. Te each about four feet high, four e across the board, and isuch For protection purposes,

I combine with the cabinet, ashield22 (Fig-3') which pref? erably is made up of pieces of canvas 23, 24 and 25, mounted on pipe frames 26 that are preferably hinged together at 27 and 28 to facilitatetransportation, storage, etc. lfflhe portions of the cabinet at opposite 'Y sides of the windows 16, may formrcompart- 4inents 16a forthe storage of golf clubs, and the compartment 29v of the cabinetabove the upper one of the partitions 17, may berused forthe storage of golf-balls. y Y

-Balls driven by the player or players, whether they enter any one of the windows 1 6, the recess 21, 4or simply roll along the upper surface of the board, are to drop into pockets whichl are arranged in rows, the front row. being designated 30, the, intermediate row 31, and the rear row 32. It will be noted that there are 13 pockets, or that the number of the pockets correspond with the number of playing cards in a suit, and furthermore, the five pockets in the row 32 are-staggered relatively to the pockets in the rows and 31.

These pockets are of uniform construction, and as best shown in Figs. 5 and 6, wherever a, pocket occurs, the board is cut toprOvide a frus'toconical aperture 33, the surface of which inclines downwardly.LV The upper end of each aperture may e about 40 five andone-half inches in diameterwhile the-,lower end may be about four inches in diameter. A ring l34 of di-electric material is secured to the under side ofthe board conf centric with the aperture forming the pocket, and this ring carries four equally spaced rub# ber bumpers vor' partitions 35,` which divide the wall of the aperture into segments 36, 37, 38 and-*39,each bearing the indicia 40 of a card suit. vAs there are thirteen pockets, and each pocket is divided to correspond with the four suits ofncards, it will be understood that the symbols 40 will be fifty-two in number, to correspond with the cards of a deck. v 'c Each pocket is provided withjfour'electric switches to correspond with the symbols 40, and each of these switches maybe of any suitable type capable yof beingac'tuated by a golf ballzwhen the latter, rolls into thepocket kand comes to rest on the conical dump bottomiv 41- of the pocket. As an examplerof suchV a switch, the di-electricfring 34may be provided. with bolts 42, each havingat-its outer end a connector 43 Vto, facilitate the joining of an electric circuit wireto the same.

l 'f Y65 The inner end of each boltcarrie'sga resilient the pocket, will roll indicating the score.

1 The dump plates 41 of the pockets haveY conical bodies so that Va toward the ring 34, an come into engagement` with one or the other of the spring contacts 44 for the purpose of These plates are pivotally mounted at 47 on suitable brackets 48, 48a, 481i, 'which are fixed within the playingboard, and arearranged belowlthe upper surface'of the sameand these dump plates are normallykheld ball dropping into 'n Aelevated position by means ofv rollers 49Vcarried bysliding bars 50. These bars have ,theirl main portions housedwithin guidesq51,iand as bestshown in Fig. 1, thel forward endsfof these bars are connected together by a cross bar or brace 52 whichA is ,joined to oneend of'a coil spring 53,*whose other end is'V secured to. the board at the point 4. This spring acts to normally retain the bars 50 in their forwardmost position, so thatV they supportthe ,dump plates 41. To permit the bars to be movedrrearwardlv .so as 'to displace the roller 49from beneaththe dump plates andcause the same Y to fall, so that the balls may roll intoa runway 55ywithin the playing board, the bars 50 are connected atjtheir forward ends by means .of cranks V56fto a rock shaft 57 having operating handlesy 58 at its yoppositeends. Whena player atthe playing end of the board moves either handle 58 in theproper direction, the rock shaft rwi-ll cause the cranks 56 to forcelthe Ybars() rearwardly against the action of .the spring 53,v and `thuscause the balls to lfall into the runway 55fr Asthis runway has ay bottom surface whichinclines toward -the yplaying end ofy the Sboard, .the balls will rollforwardly into branches 59 of the `runway, which'will. feedfthefsanie forwardly into position to be extracted by the operatorat the playing end of the boardff,

To facilitate inspection, repair, 1 etc., the top ofthe portion of the board which carries the pockets is. in may be removed rearwardlyfrom the section 11 oftheboaId.,l Y i 5 c To allow for this, the rear of ,the Vcasing' 14 is provided with, av doubley hinged door v60a,

the formY of` a slide 60, which 605, which, vwhenlifted upwardly, will lfex- Y pose theboard such construction as to hold and exhibit a complete deck of playing cards. These cards should be arranged in four rows corresponding to the card suits, and there will be thirteen cards in each row. At each point where a card is located, the board is provided with an electric lamp bulb 64, having suitable connections 65 and 66 on its socket, to permit the joining of each lamp to the connections 43 and 46 of the pocket 33 with which the particular lamp corresponds. Consequently, when the electric connections are properly made, when a golf ball rolls against any one Vof the contact springs 44, the corresponding lamp 64 will be illuminated and in turn, will illuminate the card 62 with which the lamp corresponds. The score board is also provided with depending shield strips v67 which substantially conceal the bulbs 64 and may act as reflectors to direct the light rays on to the cards. Y

Instead of placing playing cards directly on the backing 61, the score board may have a transparent front bearing pictures of the cards through which the light from the lamps 64 may shine.

The pla ing board portion of the apparatus may used for practicing golf without using the scoring part of the apparatus, if desired, but whether the cards are used or not, the operator will place the ball on the section 13 of the board, and drive the same toward the cabinet with the view of directing the ball through one or the other of the Windows 16. On the other hand, if putting is practiced, the ball will be forced to roll along the upper surface of the board toward one or the other of the pockets.

In playing a combined golf and card game with the apparatus, let us assume that each ployer uses five golf balls. The lirst player, by means of a golf club, will move the balls in succession into some of the pockets 33, and they Will lodge against five of the contact springs 44. This will cause five of the lamps 64 to be illuminated, and from such indication, the players may note the hand of cards which has been obtained. Now the first player operates one of the handles 58 to return the five' balls to him or the other player, and the second player drives five balls into the pockets, and notes his score on the score board. The player securing the best hand in this way, wins the game. Of course, the game may be played in many ays and this is just an. example of the use the apparatus.

While I have disclosed what I now consider to be a preferred embodiment of the invention in such manner that the same may be readily understood by those skilled in the art, I am aware that various changes may be made in the details without departlng from the spirit of the invention, as expresse in the claims.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. In an apparatus of the character describe a playing board provided with a pocket divided by bumpers into a plurality of segments, and an electric contact switch arranged on each segment.

2. In a game apparatus of the class de an upwardly extending conical face, meansv dividing the wall of the pocket into segments, and an electric switch arranged on each of said segments.

In a game apparatus of the class described, a playing board provided'with a number of pockets having dump bottoms, rollers normally holding said bottoms in elevated position, slide bars carrying said rollers, holding the latter in such position that the rollers maintain the bottoms in elevated position, and manually operated means for moving the bars to causel the rollers to permit the bottoms to dump.

' 5. In a combined golf and card score boardprovided with a series of playing card indicators, a playing board havin pockets into which balls are adapted to lodge, plurality of electric contact switches on each of the pockets and corresponding to a like number of the playing card indicators, and means for electrically connecting the switches to said indicators.

6. In game apparatus of the character described, a score board provided with rows of game, a

playing cards, indicators on the score board a spring connected to said bars for l In testimony whereof I aiix my signature.

JAMES WILLIAM. HUGHES. 

